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Ovidiu Gava Master Thesis S T A N D A R D F R O N T P A G E F O R E X A M I N A T I O N P A P E R S To be filled in by the student(s). Please use capital leers. Subjects: (ck box) Project Synopsis Porolio Thesis X Wrien Assignment Study programme: Culture Communication Globalization Semester: 10 Exam Title: Master Thesis Name and date of birth/ Name(s) Date(s) of birth Names and dates of birth of group Ovidiu Gava 09.06.1990 members: Hand in date: 02.01.2018 Project tle /Synopsis Title/Thesis Title The Relaons Between the European Far-Right and the Russian Federaon According to the study regulaons, the 180000 maximum number of keystrokes of the paper is: Number of keystrokes (one standard 152818 page = 2400 keystrokes, including spaces) (table of contents, bibliography and appendix do not count)* Supervisor Ulrik Pram Gad (project/synopsis/thesis): I/we hereby declare that the work submied is my/our own work. I/we understand that plagiarism is defined as presenng someone else's work as one's own without creding the original source. I/we are aware that plagiarism is a serious offense, and that anyone comming it is liable to academic sancons. Rules regarding Disciplinary Measures towards Students at Aalborg University (PDF): hp://plagiat.aau.dk/GetAsset.acon?contentId=4117331&assetId=4171389 Date and signature(s): 1st January, 2018 Ovidiu Gava * Please note that you are not allowed to hand in the paper if it exceeds the maximum number of keystrokes indicated in the study regulaons. Handing in the paper means using an exam aempt. The Relations Between The European Far-Right and The Russian Federation A Social Constructivist Perspective Author: Ovidiu Gava ( study no.20151440) Supervisor: Ulrik Pram Gad Abstract This project explores the relation between the European far-right and the Russian Federation with a focus on the values and ideas that Vladislav Surkov’s sovereign democracy proposes. The study uses Alexander Wendt’s Social Constructivism as a theoretical reference point for the understanding of the role that sovereign democracy plays in the developing of relations between the Kremlin and Europe’s far-right around notions such as anti-globalism, the cult of the strong leader, traditional Christian-European values and centralization of political power. The study concludes the fact that by courting the European far-right in a rhetoric that highlights the ideas proposed in sovereign democracy, the Russian Federation is perceived as a symbol of anti-globalism and an alternative to the current political establishment in the European Union and the Transatlantic partnership, which on the one hand provides the Kremlin with influence over the political process in Europe, while on the other hand it just provides support for its domestic political governing style. keywords: European far-right, sovereign democracy, anti-globalism, the Russian Federation, EU. 1.Introduction 1 2.Methodological approach 3 a. Structure 3 b. Ontological considerations 6 c. Epistemological considerations 9 c. Methodology and methods 1 1 3. Theoretical perspective - Alexander Wendt’s Social Constructivism 1 5 4. Vladislav Surkov’s Sovereign Democracy 2 1 5. Literature Review 2 6 6. Analysis section 29 a. Background 29 b. Austria’s Freedom Party 3 1 c. Bulgaria’s ATAKA 3 3 d. France’s National Front 3 5 e. Germany’s AfD 4 1 f. Hungary’s Jobbik 4 4 g. Italy’s Northern League 4 7 h. UK’s Independence Party and British National Party 49 8. Conclusion 5 2 9. Bibliography 5 6 1.Introduction In the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation had plunged into a period of instability as it had undergone a financial and economic crisis, social unrest and political uncertainty. The current President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin has called the dissolution of the Soviet Union as the “greatest geopolitical disaster of the twentieth century”1 and while this remark appears as very powerful, it is nevertheless important to acknowledge that for the Russian Federation at least, the end of the Cold War has not been followed by a period of prosperity and development shortly after. The instability of the last decade of the twentieth century appears to have marked Russia and as this project will show further, the reference to the period following the end of the Cold War has been a key element that further on in the twenty-first century defined the perspective that the Kremlin has displayed towards the practice of governing. The “Colour Revolutions” that took place in the former Soviet satellite states of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan in mid-2000s have highlighted for the Russian Federation the possible threat of, on the one hand massive shifts in the domestic political landscape and consequently, on the other, a potential destabilization of the largest country on the planet. It is in this context that the Deputy Chief of Staff for the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Vladislav Surkov in 2008 has published the article entitled “Russian Political Culture: A View From Utopia” in which he argues for what is called ‘sovereign democracy’, a model of democracy which in Surkov’s views is specific to the Russian political culture and its historical background. The sovereign democracy model is set to explain why notions such as a strong center of political power, idealization of the leader (or the cult of the strong leader), anti-globalism and traditional Christian-European values should be at the center of the development of the democracy in Russia. The arguments are brought about the historical foundation of the Russian Federation particularly on the necessity of stability which in Surkov’s perspective can only be guaranteed by a strong center of authority, hence the assertion on the centralization of political power, through the firm rule of the leader, of an “effective manager”, for the preservation of the Russian traditional values in the era of globalization. This project is set out to develop a better understanding of the relations between the Russian Federation on one hand and the European Union’s far-right political parties around the ideas that sovereign democracy upholds, namely anti-globalism, state centralism and sovereignty, the cult of the strong leader and traditional European-Christian values. 1 Osborn, Andrew. “P utin: Collapse of the Soviet Union was 'catastrophe of the century'”, Independent , April 25, 2005, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/putin-collapse-of-the-soviet-union-was-catastrophe-of-t he-century-521064.html. 1 The increase in popularity of the European far-right parties in the years following the financial and economic crisis of 2008 reveals the importance of the relation that these parties develop with the Russian Federation particularly from the European Union’s and NATO’s perspective, but also from the point of view of individual member states. The Euroscepticism among these parties and the criticism of the Transatlantic partnership underline the fact that the European far-right can pose a serious threat to the current political establishment in Brussels and it is this line of thought that the relations that these parties establish with the Kremlin become relevant for EU and NATO. For this reason, this project attempts at providing an understanding of the implications of the courtship that the Russian Federation has displayed towards the European far-right around notions like anti-globalism, state sovereignty, the ideal of the strong leader and traditional Christian-European values, in order to understand the role of sovereign democracy in the developing of relations between the Kremlin and Europe’s far-right. The focus in International Relations on Russia in the recent years has been primarily on its use of hard power, namely the intervention in the Syrian Civil War, the annexation of Crimea or the involvement in the Ukrainian crisis. However, the use of soft power by the Kremlin is relevant for a better understanding of this actor’s behaviour in the international system and this study is delimited in that it does not focus primarily on the material component of the Russian foreign relations, but rather on the relations developed with the European far-right around the values and ideas of sovereign democracy. In this sense, for the purpose of developing this project, Alexander Wendt’s Social Constructivism will serve the purpose of the theoretical reference, as this theory emphasizes the importance of ideas and identity in the establishing and developing of relations in the international system. The role of the meaning that actors have towards one another is central to the Social Constructivist theory as it is argued that it serves as the basis for the actions that actors take towards one another and this is particularly what this project is set out to investigate: what role does sovereign democracy play in the relations between the European far-right and the Russian Federation? In order to address this problem this project will first identify what values and ideas Surkov’s sovereign democracy proposes and the argumentation around them. Further on, the project will seek to understand how these values and ideas are reflected in the instances of interaction between and in the rhetoric employed by the European far-right and the Kremlin, following which, the analysis will look at how Russia is perceived by the European far-right through the prism of these values proposed by sovereign democracy as an alternative to the current political establishment in the European Union and the Transatlantic partnership. The project presents a constructionist from an ontological standpoint, while the epistemological tradition in which the project is conducted is interpretivism.
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